What is primary productivity? Give brief description of factors that affect primary productivity

Explanation

Primary productivity refers to the rate of production of biomass or organic matter per unit area over a time period by the producers in an ecosystem.
Various factors which affect primary productivity include light, temperature, water, nutrients etc. In desert, sunlight is abundant but water is scarce or nutrients are lacking. Therefore, in such areas, water and nutrient supply become the limiting factor. Productivity increases from polar regions towards the tropics because of the increasing sunlight and temperature.